Xandros seeks its niche as Linux hype wanes

The Globe and Mail ^ | May 18, 2006 | Jack Kapica

[bigdcaldavis]

TORONTO — The recent LinuxWorld trade show in Toronto was dull, but exhibitors liked it that way. Excitable younger Linux evangelists had given way to the more sober executives and IT managers.

That plays into the hands of Andreas Typaldos, chief executive officer of Xandros Inc., just fine. For him, it's an opportunity.

IDC forecasts that the market for new and redeployed PCs running Linux will grow to $10-billion (U.S.) and 17 million units by 2008, with an installed base of more than 42.6 million units. Mr. Typaldos is hoping to carve a niche in this growing market, offering Xandros's upstart Debian-based distribution of Linux.

Xandros Desktop has been out two years now, and Xandros Server, released May 1, has undergone extensive trials. But its maturity has not yet made much of an impact on the industry.

So far, the Linux market still belongs to Red Hat, with Novell's SuSE a distant second and Mandriva somewhere behind that. Xandros's market share is even smaller, but Mr. Typaldos is counting on a tectonic shift in the near future: While Red Hat and Novell Linux systems can work easily in small-business environments, neither company has spent much effort going after small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

One obstacle to Linux adoption has been the perception that Linux technicians don't come cheap. Mr. Typaldos is marketing the American-owned, Canadian-made Xandros Server (it was originally Corel Linux until 2001) as a plug-and-play system that eliminates the need for in-house technicians.

Mr. Typaldos differentiates Xandros from competing products such as Red Hat and Novell, whose business models are based on selling support for the product. His answer is to make Xandros as Windows-like as possible to appeal to companies that don't want (or can't afford) to set up their own IT departments or to pay the licensing fees Microsoft and its partners demand. "It's a Windows world . . . we keep the Windows world, but change the engine."

By his calculation, a Microsoft system, including server, backup, end-user licence agreements and everything needed, is about $5,000. Xandros, he says, can offer it all for $450. For individuals, Xandros desktop is selling for as little as $14.99 (after rebate) in Canada.

But David Senf, senior software analyst at IDC Canada, says it will be difficult selling Linux without an elaborate support system like Novell's. Moreover, Xandros will have to try to sell the product to a non-technical market that might be able to configure the system, but could also get it wrong.

He is also predicting a tougher battle from Novell than Mr. Typaldos apparently expects. Even with its attention divided between enterprise and SMB markets, "Half of what Novell can throw at the SMBs is a lot more than Xandros can do by itself," he said.

Still, adds Mr. Senf, "Xandros is focusing on the right area of the market, and that's good marketing. We all like a David-and-Goliath story -- you kind of want to see smaller companies take that challenge and run with it."

(An expanded version of this story is available on globetechnology.com)

[N3WBI3]

Linux on a firewall is irreplaceable.

If your going to go with a firewall you should go BSD

[FLAMING DEATH]

Link doesn't work.